On January 10th, 2012, the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences will reveal the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards. We already know the best films that will be front-runners for contention (Les Mis, Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln…), but knowing the Academy really well, I can safely assume they are going to leave a ton of great achievements unnoticed (such crimes have already been committed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association two weeks ago). Here’s to the hope that the Academy will not overlook these modern gems:

Best Picture: The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, Looper, Safety Not Guaranteed, The Master, Killing Them Softly, The Beasts of the Southern Wild and Skyfall.

Let’s face it; the Academy has made stupid snubs and nominations in this category before. For example, the infamous neglect of The Dark Knight in 2008 and the unnecessary inclusion of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close last year. In my opinion, even though The Artist was a great movie, it was far from the best (which was, in my opinion Drive, also snubbed). The films listed above are a mixture of mainstream and arthouse pictures that are both entertaining and remarkable relics of 2012 cinema; I’ll be damned Christopher Nolan is snubbed again for his epic. When I mention movies like Skyfall, I am simply wishfully thinking; the fact is that the Academy is a collective full of old people who will find the films above too loud and obnoxious to even consider, but, remember 2003?

Most people don’t understand how great The Master was; most people don’t understand what a visionary Anderson is. Every shot, every movement by the actors is carefully orchestrated to tell an excellent cautionary tale about influence. Jackson deserves a nod because he, yet again, delivers an amazing spectacle (more of that movie’s problems lay in the script). Johnson gave us the best time-travelling movie in years; he turns a complex topic into an amazing piece of cinema (expect him to get a Best Original Screenplay nod as well). Oh, and Christopher Nolan should not be snubbed… please…

I was pretty angered by the negative reaction to Killing Them Softly, many felt cheated by the director’s allusions to the economic downturn and recent election, others called it extremely boring. I say (a very respectful) screw you to those people. Brad Pitt killed in a movie about the modern cruelties revolving our society. While watching that movie, you are reminded how much of a good actor Pitt really is in the way he can really blend in with the atmosphere Dominique set up for him. It is not Brad Pitt killing those guys, it is that misunderstood hitman killing those guys. Get it? Quvenzhane Wallis is a young talented actress who transcends beyond what child acting is (looking cute in front of a camera) and turns it into what it should be (looking real in front of a camera). That natural sense to her is not something you can teach a child, it’s simply natural talent. By now, I certainly hope you understand that I hope Looper gets a proper recognition for the amazing film it was, it had the combination of amazing action and plot, not to mention a rather creepy portrayal of Bruce Willis by an electrifying Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Django Unchained has possibly the most talented supporting cast in recent memory, and though that movie will not get a meager representation at the Oscars, they need to acknowledge the show-stealing effort by the devilishly hilarious Sam Jackson. If there was anything that brought their films to amazing heights of emotional tension, it was both Caine and Dench for their respective films. Some of the pivotal scenes relied on those two acting juggernauts, scenes that jerked the tears from our weary eyes. Rebel Wilson, I think, is extremely deserving of all the praise she receives; she brings such a unique level of awkward and inappropriate humour that really brightens the movie. That girl needs her own TV show or something because she has natural talent.

Best Visual Effects: Dredd 3D and Chronicle

If there was any film deserving of such an accolade, it is Dredd. Every fired bullet, every impact is so carefully mapped out and gloriously rendered to the point when all you can do is cringe out of morbid horror. And for the low budget, this film really flexes it's technological muscles. That is the exact same case as is with Chronicle; the innovations these films bring about teach us all that you don't need an Avengers budget to make a quality movie.

I don’t play a lot of first-person shooters, but I love action movies. Everything from Dirty Harry, Die Hard, Boondock Saints and (most recently) Looper, I love a good film with lots of fun explosions and slow-motion dolphin-dives as the badass good guy fires through a narrow opening.

Today, I went with my Dad (who is a huge James Bond fan) for some bonding time at our local shooting center. It was really fun and intense. We had a blast learning how to safely use handguns, shotguns and some assault rifles but (surprisingly) it was nothing like the movies and video games.

For one, THEY ARE FREAKING LOUD (you’d think James Bond would have lost his hearing by now), they take two hands to aim properly (no one-hand/gangster/sideways firing for a skinny armed kid like me), and the clips run out superfast (SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE-wait, gotta reload). You don’t expect that gruesome kick from a shotgun the first time you pull the trigger (but pumping it made me feel real cool :3).

It’s not like I didn’t expect it to be different, but it was like the first time I went bowling after playing Wii Sports Bowling. You can’t put on bowling shoes and be all like “Yo, I got a perfect game on my Wii, this should be easy” as much as you can grab a real gun and say “Yo, I got a 360, no-scope kill on BLOPS last night; this should be easy.”

My question for y’all is: Do you think video games will ever become like the real thing?